Wake Up
by Not So Gallant Gallade
Summary: Sometimes the damndest things happen when you're asleep... a horror oneshot for Halloween. YES, IT DOES HAVE DEATH.


As Ross Fratelli leaned down to inspect the culprit, he couldn't help but feel a bit like a complete weakling. Yes, he'd hit his growth spurt already, at 16, but his body shape was lanky, to say the least.

"Really?" he thought, "I tripped on a friggin' rock?"

Ross crouched down and picked up the stone, and ran his hands over the surface. It was surprisingly smooth, as if it had been carved by some Neanderthal and somehow passed the test of time. Something about it entranced him the second he picked it up.

"I'm not one for rock collections... but I think I'll just keep this one. Kinda cool," he told himself, as if he needed to justify the fact that he was now lugging a rock around for no reason.

With that, he put it in his ever-handy drawstring bag and carried on towards his destination of Hearthome City.

He arrived about an hour later, the memory of a disappointed young boy in a Pikachu costume sticking to the back of his mind. He'd wanted to battle Ross, but Ross didn't have a single Pokemon. Never had.

He took in the sights around him, as Hearthome was the largest metropolis he'd ever been in. Veilstone, the place in which he was born and raised, was big but not this big. Thankfully, Ross managed to navigate through the streets with relative ease until he got to the northern edge of the city, near Amity Square. There, he located his sleeping spot for the night, a simple campground.

After checking in with the camp supervisor, who was all smiles on this day, Ross continued on into the forested area, passing by a few tents. He could barely make out a sunset through the canopy of trees over and in front of him, the sky tinted red and orange and every other color on that side of the color wheel. Even with a blocked view, he knew that this was one of those moments that would make a photographer's career, somewhere in the world.

As he took in these sights, he felt a rumbling in his bag. He ignored it at first, but when it persisted, he thrust open the drawstrings and checked. The only movement in his bag, though, was the rock wobbling from the force of him checking on it.

Just as he looked back up from his belongings, he found a slight clearing in the woods, though still covered. "Perfect, I'll stop here for the night," he told himself, after making sure nobody else was around to steal his spot.

Sighing from the exhaustion of the day's trek, he practically belly-flopped onto the ground, which was loosely blanketed by golden leaves that had lost their way. He spilled his bag's contents out next to him, and laid out the sleeping bag he carried on his back.

"What a day... maybe I'll do some sightseeing tomorrow instead of venturing further, I'd really like to see the town..." Ross said to nobody, arms folded behind his head. He stared up at the leaves, and one large red one nearly came to rest on his face as he slowly shut his eyes. The night had started to fall, and he was ready to drift off into the abyss. He obviously didn't realize the abyss he'd soon be sucked into.

* * *

_"You have disrupted my slumber... now you must pay with the only currency I accept..."_

An hollow laugh filled the hollow forest as a purple mist slowly sunk from thin air to the ground, seeming to dissolve into anything it touched, though it was mostly concentrated on one particular spot...

And in a flash, the mist faded away, leaving no trace.

* * *

Ross awoke with a start the next morning, nearly jumping while flat on his back. A Bidoof was looking over him curiously, sniffing him every now and then.

"Oh hey there, little guy. Good morning to you too," Ross said with a laugh, sitting up as the Bidoof leapt onto his lap.

"You know, you're actually pretty cute... for a Bidoof." The beaver-like pokemon cocked its head to the right, and Ross laughed as he packed up everything. Within a minute, he was all set to hit the road again. When Ross trotted off, though, so did the Bidoof.

"Guess you wanna follow me around, huh?" Ross asked, and the Bidoof nodded in its dumb little way. "Well fine, but don't be dragging down my rep too much, you hear?"

The newly united pair took off for the city, and much to Ross's surprise, the little thing did just the opposite (a couple girls even wanted to stop and pet him, and the thing loved all the attention). Apparently, people respected him just for having a Pokemon, whether it was a Bidoof or a Garchomp. Of course, the Bidoof would probably get killed in a battle against a Garchomp (literally), but hey, that wasn't the point. Overall, Ross liked having the critter around.

Walking around town was the main point of the day, as both of them went into several shops just to browse, though Ross was very tempted to buy a gold pocket watch that was on sale. He resistsed the temptation though, and they left without any money spent.

Later that day Ross had managed to find a Pokemon-friendly restaurant to eat dinner (they skipped lunch), so they were both stuffed as could be as they retreated to the campground for the night.

As they neared the camping spot, though, a wild Starly swooped down, knocking Ross face-first onto the ground. His head nearly smashed into a log right next to him, which definitely would've been bad.

"Ow, hey!" Ross exclaimed, looking up at the aggressor. It was just a little Starly, but yet it had taken him down easily.

"Grr..." Bidoof growled, baring its teeth. Suddenly, the little thing curled into a ball and shot itself towards the bird, who was looking away. A direct hit to its back knocked it out instantly, leaving Ross dumbfounded.

"Didn't see that coming..." he muttered as the Bidoof dumbly bounced back over. They proceeded to their spot without any trouble, and Bidoof made itself a little bed as Ross set himself up for the night.

"You know, this could be the beginning of something great..." he told the air, as was apparently his habit. He fell asleep just a couple seconds later.

* * *

"Ah, time to wake up, Bidoof. Got another day ahead of us!"

Ross stood up and stretched his arms just after he got up, feeling like he'd been awake for hours already. However, he was greeted by an eerie silence.

"Bidoof, you u- oh Arceus..."

Ross vomited in his mouth as he turned to his companion, and swallowing it back down didn't help one bit.

Bidoof was staring at him with sheer shock on his face... but something was missing.

More specifically, his whole body was gone. Bidoof was reduced to his head, stained with blood in several places. His normally bright eyes were glazed over, and a pool of red had seeped into the ground beneath him, as well as the leaves it had painted crimson. Even stranger, there was an X marked on his forehead, formed by two precise slashes. It looked like something Zorro had slashed out.

"Wh-what the hell? Who did this?" Ross exclaimed, looking around frantically. Just yesterday, hours ago, Bidoof was perfectly fine and now he was as dead as Khartoum the horse.

Silently, Ross took the head and power-walked to a nearby river. Quickly, he tossed the decapitated part into the creek and walked away, trauma scribbled all over his face.

"W-well, this is a n-new experience..."

Without a second thought, Ross packed up everything and left the campground for the last time, heading back to the city. He needed to forget, and this was the best way of doing so.

Thankfully, after about an hour of window shopping the incident was pushed to the back of his mind, and he even bought himself a nice Solaceon army knife, a blue one with a pretty nice price tag on it. His parents were rich, though, having started a successful traveling gear company, and as such Ross had quite a bit of funding for his adventure he was starting.

After paying for his new gadget, Ross thanked the cashier, a blond-haired man in his mid-20's, with a couple extra bucks and went on his way. The fact that he had managed to push past such a horrible incident with the Bidoof with such ease was a testament to his will, and Ross knew it.

He bettered his day further by grabbing his favorite food, gyoza, at a local hole-in-the-wall restaurant, and decided to spend the rest of the day just wandering until he exited the city west.

Sure enough, he managed to navigate his way out, and as the sun slowly gave way to the moon he found a nice pondside clearing to rest his weary bones for the night. Even though he didn't want to admit it, he was still shaken by the sunrise slaying to which he had woken up, but he was using all his determination to get past it. It was only a Bidoof, after all. Not like there weren't thousands of other ones, unfortunately.

Ross slowly let himself fall into unconsciousness as the moon rose, and sighed one last breath before he was out for good. Tomorrow would be a better day, or at least a more consistently good one, he promised himself.

* * *

Ross woke up this day to his radio alarm, at the ungodly time of 6:30 A.M. Well, ungodly by his standards.

"And our top story today is the brutal murder of one Nicholas Miles," the announcer said in a morbid voice. "Those who don't like hearing about blood and guts should switch channels now, because this case is the worst police have seen in a year."

Ross turned up the volume.

"Anyways, the young man's body was found just outside of Russell Department Store, where he worked as a cashier. He had the unfortunate task of working a full day's shift thanks to a flu virus running through the store's employees, but fortunately and unfortunately, Nicholas didn't die that way."

Ross slowly reached over to his Solaceon army knife and looked at its tag.

_Russell Department Store, Hearthome City; $49.95_

He gulped down imaginary saliva as he listened to the continuation of the report.

"A passerby just 90 minutes ago found Nick's body and immediately called 911, but the way he was found, there was no hope whatsoever for the poor victim. His chest was practically ripped apart by knife wounds, and an entire leg was severed from his body, as was his nose. The only other thing of note was that this young man had an X slashed on his forehead... police have found no significance to this but have theorized that it's a marking of some sort, possibly the killer's signature..."

The rest of the announcement was drowned out by Ross's panic. The X was the same mark he saw on Bidoof... and this victim was undoubtedly the same man who put through his purchase of the knife.

Someone was _definitely_ going after Ross, and their tactics of intimidation were really starting to work. Ross was convulsing slightly as he took everything he had with him and stuffed it in his bag hurriedly. He had to get out of this place, and fast. Maybe it was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or maybe all his bad karma he'd acquired over the years was just hitting him now.

But whatever it was, it was hitting harder than lightning.

That day, Ross tried not to panic, simply moving west until he reached the miner's town of Oreburgh. There, he did what he had been doing the past few days: just wandering. He had no real goal, though he did want to get to the Twinleaf/Sandgem area so he could get a pokemon at last.

All the people he passed were smiling, which sort of freaked Ross out a bit. They almost seemed too happy to him. _They_ weren't the ones getting stalked by a killer with colder blood than a Seviper.

He was just standing and peering through the window of an electronics store that evening when he felt someone ram into him, knocking them both onto the pavement.

When Ross looked up at the culprit, he saw a spiky red-haired boy rubbing his arm, which had abrasions all over.

"You okay, kid? Gotta watch where you're going..." Ross told him, and the boy looked up at him.

"Sorry, was just in a real rush to get back home... my dad's waitin' for me," he replied, a slight drawl noticeable in his voice.

"Your dad must be a pretty strict man..."

"Not really, but I want to beat him home."

"Oh, where's he coming home from?" Ross asked, picking himself up now.

"The gym, of course. My dad's Roark!" he said, grinning.

"Oh, that's cool. You have any pokemon yet?"

"No, I'm only 9. But when I turn 10, my dad's gonna get me my first pokemon! I'm gonna take over the gym when I get older!" he produly declared, and Ross had to smile at the young boy's ambitions.

"I bet you'll be just as good as your dad..."

"Nope. I'm gonna be even better!" he exclaimed, drawing the eyes of a passerby lady.

"Haha, well, good luck with that, I gotta get going," Ross said, strolling off without another word. He still had a slight smile on his face, though. If every youth was as enthusiastic as that kid, then the world would be just fine off.

"Hey!" the kid called after Ross, who turned around.

"You dropped your... whatever this is..." he said, holding up Ross's Solaceon army knife.

"Oh, I certainly did. Thanks, kid!" he replied cheerfully, retrieving it. With that, he finally departed, and found a hotel in which he would stay the night. After checking in, though, he decided to go grab some dinner from a local burger joint.

Ross ordered his usual preference, a hamburger with no cheese or onions, and sat down at a table as he sipped his soft drink.

He looked around at the establishment, which had been built not two tears ago, and a familiar face caught his eye. Sitting across the room was none other than Roark and his son, though the wife was nowhere to be seen.

The kid looked over at him and waved, then turned to his father. Roark stood up and walked over with a smug grin, and offered his hand.

"Hi, I'm Roark. I understand you, uh, ran into my son earlier?" he cracked, and Ross laughed.

"That sounds about right... your son's sure got a lot of spunk."

"That's an understatement, let me tell you. Back home, he just bounces off the walls 24/7. Literally. I sure hope he mellows out when he gets older..."

"I'm sure he'll be just fine..."

Sensing an awkward silence coming on, Roark said "Well, I better go finish up and all. Nice to meet you..."

"Ross, and you're Roark, correct?"

"100 percent!" With a toothy grin, he returned to his son in time to catch a falling cup of soda.

After finishing up his near-perfecly cooked meal, Ross threw away the wrappers and all and exited, heading back to the hotel. Within minutes, he was spread-eagle on his bed, not even bothering to take the sheets off.

"Almost to Twinleaf, thank goodness... just have to keep a good pace and not blow mysef out..." he told himself (he really needs someone other than himself to talk to, huh?). Just a minute later, he fell asleep again, his snoring nearly waking up the people next door to him.

* * *

Ross sat up in bed the next day, rubbing his eyes as he slowly came to his senses.

With a huge sigh, he leapt out of bed, threw his clothes on, and strutted down and out of the hotel, ready to have some breakfast and hit the road again. He strode out the sliding double doors of the suites...

And nearly fainted.

Dangling from a tree to the side of the main road of Oreburgh was Roark's son.

Dead.

He spotted Roark on his knees, and walked over, still staring at the boy. Only when he got closer did he realize the mutilation he too had gone through. The child's eyes were gouged out, with only empty spaces and blood replacing them, and his ears were also nowhere to be seen.

And right on his forehead, of course, was the trademark. The X.

"Ross! Oh Arc-c-ceus... I c-can't b-believe this happened-d..." Roark mumbled, stuttering as much as the public defense attorney in _My Cousin Vinny_. Ross noticed that blood was slowly dripping from the boy's fingers, the tips cut off and left in the middle of the road. Half of them had been run over by a car, which only made the scene more grotesque.

"Roark, I... I just don't know what to tell you..." Ross mustered the strength to say. He was as hysteric as Roark to be truthful, and his palms were practically dripping sweat.

"I... I just don't kn-now what to d-do... I'll h-have to close the g-gym for sure... I just can't b-believ-ve someone would d-do this to him... he h-had the wh-hole world in front of him..."

"If there's anything I can do-"

"No no, just let me b-be," Roark interrupted, wiping away tears. "You should get on your way, R-ross, go wherever you were off to."

"You sure? I can help with whatever you need me to..."

"I'll p-push through, Ross, don't worry. If you ever come back here, I'll b-be just fine."

With his stomach in Boy Scout knots, Ross slowly walked away, trying not to run until he was out of eyeshot. He couldn't look back at the broken-down gym leader, nor the broken boy whose untimely demise had just been met.

As soon as he turned the corner, Ross ran.

Ran from the city of Oreburgh.

Ran from the latest victim of Killer X.

Ran from everything haunting him.

Ross didn't stop in his sped-up death march until his legs finally collapsed underneath him hours later, not even being able to support his feeble physique.

When Ross finally quit on running, he walked as fast as he could, not paying attention to anything he passed. Nothing would stop him from getting away from his fears, even though they were always lurking behind him.

What had he done to deserve such a fate? Why was this madman messing with him? Who'd be next? Would it be him? Would his death be painful? How badly would he be mutilated?

Finally, night fell upon him, and he saw that he was just a mile away from Sandgem Town, the last village before Twinleaf. Reluctantly, Ross decided to call it a day, pleased with the fact that he hadn't put anyone else in danger with his marathon run that day. Even though he didn't want to go to sleep, his eyelids insisted, and he succumbed to the darkness without any consent from his mind.

* * *

_"Just give up now..."_

* * *

"No! Please! Let me go!"

Ross awoke to see himself staring into the desperate eyes of a man with hair whiter than an Absol's fur, and about as shaggy as their fur too. He was leaning against a wall, cowering for his life at something above Ross's head.

Ross looked up.

He was holding a knife, not the one he had bought the other day, but another one.

This knife was poised straight towards Professor Rowan.

Realizing he was frozen, the old man dashed for the door, yelling "I'll get the police on you in no time, you maniac!"

"What the, wait, what did I do?" Ross asked after him, to no avail.

"Oh, just a few murders, nothing big..." a sarcastic voice responded from the direction he had been facing. Actually, that wasn't true; it was more like a chorus of voices blended together. And it scared the hell out of Ross.

Ross turned around to see a glowing purple and green ball staring at him, a wicked grin on its face.

"Wh-who are you?"

"We are Spiritomb, and YOU are our little puppet," it replied, slowly floating around him.

"P-uppet...?" Ross asked.

"Correct. You disturbed our sleep when you tripped over us, TRIPPED OVER US, and then you had to go and steal us from our resting place!" Spiritomb shouted furiously, glowing even brighter now.

"Wait, you mean that rock?"

"It is NOT a rock, it is a keystone. We have been sealed away for thousands of years with no problems, and now you come along and mess with us. You even hurt one of the spirits that make us up so much that it disappeared, without a trace! So, we of course had to exact some revenge."

Ross raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, revenge?"

"We decided to simply use you as a marionette of ours, doing our dirty little deeds of death."

"Which means..."

"It means, you dimwitted waterbag, that we have used you as a vessel so that we can murder people! How much more obvious do we need to get?" Spiritomb spat.

"So... my stalker is... me...?"

"Look who's finally catching on!" Spiritomb chuckled evilly as Ross stared at the knife in his hands. The blade was stained permanently with blood. The blood of Bidoof, the cashier, Roark's son. And, almost, Professor Rowan.

"Wh-why...?"

"Because NOBODY messes with us and gets away with it! And you know what, Rossy boy? We'll continue to do it! We'll just see how many of these we can rack up, see if we can't take down a international celebrity or two!"

Ross's eyes welled up with tears. Here he was, running away from everyone, when it was he who had ruined so many lives. It was bittersweet, especially when he thought about Roark's son.

"Sorry Ross, but it looks like your choices here are quite limited..." Spiritomb taunted as Ross dropped to his knees, looking up with disdain at the incomplete collection of spirits.

Ross glanced down at the knife in his hand, then up at Spiritomb, whose grin was still super glued on its face.

He held up the knife to neck level, straight out in front of him, and took one last glance around.

In one clean swipe, he swept the knife through his throat, blood immediately rushing freely onto the tile as he fell onto his side, the utensil clattering onto the floor beside him.

Ross had freed himself of Spiritomb's curse... but not from Spiritomb itself.

A green light emerged from Ross's heart as his eyes glazed over, and it flew up to the 'body' of Spiritomb, embellishing itself inside.

"Complete once again..." Spiritomb said gleefully, being sucked back into the Old Keystone like a genie into its lamp. A maniacal laugh echoed throughout the room, with all 108 voices present once again in the vengeful spirit.

In a flash, the keystone disappeared, teleported back to the Hallowed Tower where it belonged.

* * *

_Some references and stuff:_

_Khartoum the horse and the whole Bidoof scene is a reference to The Godfather_

_My Cousin Vinny__ is a fantastic comedy movie._

___Spiritomb does actually consist of 108 spirits, weighs 108 kg, and is #108 in the Sinnoh Pokedex... I got that from Bulbapedia :P_

___The title, I thought was appropriate, and is also the name of an Arcade Fire song._

___Arcade Fire = crazy good._

___For the record, I am taking part in NaNoWriMo, so not many updates for November at all.  
_


End file.
